How do I keep them together?

One downside to shoaling fish is that when they get relaxed in aquaria, they can lose their instincts and start to drift apart. Although that’s less likely to happen to the species mentioned here, it’s still a possibility, and unfortunately there’s not a great deal you can do to keep them together. Sometimes it can help to add some flow, in the form of a pump or powerhead, creating a focal point in the tank that shoaling fish which live in moving waters (like the Forktail rainbows) will come together to exploit.

Don’t be deceived by pictures of aquascapes showing fish constantly in tight groups either. Such images are often the product of a helping hand somewhere out of shot ‘spooking’ the fish into forming up for a photo — or worse still, some shoals have been known to be the result of photoshop!